hi! So today I'm going to share some witchy reads with you. So this is a
Monthly Recommendations prompt so I will leave the details of that group down
below but let's talk about some witchy books that I would recommend! I'm gonna
start with some of the ones that I think are probably less well known before I
get into the ones that I'm pretty sure everyone else is gonna put on their lists. So
I'll start with a couple of New Zealand books because I think those are probably
the least well-known. So the first book I would recommend would be The Changeover
by Margaret Mahy. So Margaret Mahy is a very well-known children and young
adult author in New Zealand although sadly she has passed away now. The
Changeover follows this girl named Laura who has this vision that something bad
is gonna happen to her baby brother who she often ends up looking after because
her mother is a single mother and is always at work. So she gets involved with
this guy at her school who she happens to know is a witch and she ends up
working with this witchy family to try and save her brother. There were definitely
some strange bits in this book - both in a good way and a bad way. There also some
parts of this book that were just... I really loved the writing and I thought
the lines were amazing so I really recommend this book if that sounds like
something they would interest you. I would say it's on a younger scale of
young adult, probably not quite middle grade though. But it's also really creepy
and probably a slightly different perspective of witches then you might
get in some other books. Actually what I found from all the books that I picked
out for this list is they are all very different views of what witches are
which I find really interesting. So the second New Zealand book that I would
recommend is not actually this one but it's this series which is the Kotahi
Bay series by J.C. Hart. This series is actually a self-published series where
there are four books, most of which are only in eBook form I believe. So this
series are set in this like small New Zealand town where it turns out that a
lot of the children of the Gods live. So it's very based around
Māori mythology and you've got kind of this conflict between the gods building up.
The third book follows a character named Alisa who is the granddaughter of the
town witch who has now passed away and she's having to take over as the town
witch even though she doesn't really know what that means. For me there was a
little bit too much romance in these stories but I did think that the overall
story was really good and I really liked how it captured that small-town New
Zealand feel so if you don't mind a bit of romance
then the series might be something that's worth looking into
So my next recommendation is the Diana Tregrade series by Mercedes Lackey. So
to be completely transparent I read a couple of books in this series like a
long time ago, like probably more than a decade ago? And I really liked them and
this is a series I really do want to get back to. I believe this is the second
book in the series - this is the only one that I actually had one physical copy
I know that when these came out Mercedes like he had quite a bit of trouble
because people didn't like her writing these witchy stories. So it follows this
woman named Diana Tregarde, who is a witch and she gets involved in helping
this police detective solve crime. I believe he might also be psychic and
they know each other from some paranormal adventures in the past. As I said
it's been a while since I read it but I think it was just quite a fun but dark
actiony urban fantasy and I really enjoyed it. I also think that Mercedes
Lackey did quite a good job of like ... do you know
anything I say about this is like sooooo memory... at some point I'll reread this
and then I'll know whether this is actually a good recommendation but from
what I remember I really enjoyed the ones that I did read and that's why I've
kind of kept this as around as a series I want to get back to. Just too many good
books to read! So moving into slightly more popular books but ones that don't
really get talked about that much. The next series I
would recommend would be the Midnight Texas series by Charlaine Harris. So
this is a series that is set in the same world as this Sookie Stackhouse series
which is what the TV series True Blood was based on although that book series
is a little bit different from the TV series especially as time goes on but I
did feel like the book series got better as it went on whereas the TV show went
the other way and it's certain point they crossed over. Anyway Midnight Texas
doesn't really have much to do with the Sookie Stackhouse series although there
are a couple of characters from that series that turn up in Midnight Texas
Midnight, Texas is this tiny little town out in the middle of nowhere and you've
got a bunch of like quite strange characters who gathered there. You've got
Manfred who is a psychic; you've got a couple of angels; you've got a vampire; an
assassin; a bunch of strange people. You've also got a woman named Fiji who is a
witch but she's also just a really lovely lady who happens to get involved
in some of the weird stuff that's going on in the town. I really enjoyed the
Midnight Texas series. Mainly I just found that small town really comfortable
and I just loved all the characters. I wouldn't say the murder mysteries and
the stories are anything amazing and there's not any amazing themes explored
but it's just a really fun story with some some nice characters to get to know
and I did enjoy the witchy element. I think if you liked the Sookie Stackhouse
series then you will definitely like Midnight Texas and you should read it. So
then another book that got quite a few mixed reviews when it first came out and
that is the Half Bed series by Sally Green. So I think the key thing about
this particular book was that a lot of it is written in second person, which
isn't that common. Although the second and third book
pretty much dropped off on that entirely I think. We follow a guy - what is his name?
Nathan I believe. We follow him. He is a half-black which half-white witch. So
society is divided between these two types of witches
White witches being the "good" ones and the black witches being the "bad" ones and
on their 16th birthday they're supposed to get three gifts and develop whatever
special ability they're going to have as a witch but Nathan's mother is a white
witch who has died and his father is a black witch who is considered the most
evil witch of all time and he's kind of on the run in hiding and Nathan is now
kind of in the hands of the white witches. And the story tells about
him learning about his powers and his family heritage both on his white witch
side and his black witch side. As I said this did get a bunch of mixed reviews
when it first came out but I really loved it. I do think there are some weak
points in the story but overall I became very attached to Nathan and the ending
just broke my heart so I would really recommend this series. Then to talk about
some obvious ones - obviously you've got the Buffy series with Willow being a
witch and learning about her powers throughout the series. I think there's
even more about Willow's witchy powers when you get to the comic books compared
to the TV series. So there's that. Another one I think a lot of people will
recommend because it's recent is Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson. So I read it,
it is a very light paranormal murder mystery type thing where this girl
accidentally brings her best friend who has died back from the dead to help try
and figure out who killed her friend. Again, it wasn't the most amazing book
but I really did enjoy the dead girls and I have seen people saying that they
didn't like the ending but I quite liked the revenge that gets carried out in the
end. I'm trying to phrase that in a way so I was not to give spoilers. Then I
think two other quite popular witchy ones I would recommend would be the
Throne of Glass series, mainly because of Manon Blackbeak, which is
one of the characters - my favorite character. To be honest I don't really care
that much about Aelin, I care about Manon and I care about Elide - is that how you
say it? Those are the only character I care
about. The rest can die... which they probably will! But Manon Blackbeak and her
13, which is my favorite. I love that they fly around on dragons and they're just so
like badass but also learning to be maybe good? Maybe? we'll see what happens
in the next book. And then the last recommendation I would make would of
course be the Three Dark Crown series by Kendare Blake. So this is a series
that's very witchy. It's set on this island where you've got these three
Queens that are born and when they turn 16 they're supposed to kill each other
and whoever survives gets the throne and each of them has a different magical
ability... maybe! Well maybe things haven't quite worked out. It's a really great
story that's going to be a four book series I believe and the third one just
came out. I haven't quite read the third one yet but I am excited to read it
because the first two books had quite a few twists and turns and I just love how
it makes you root for all of the Queens. I will say for that one that I do think
the writing is a little bit iffy but hopefully it will get better as the
series goes on. I can't really even put my finger on what it is I don't like
about the writing but it is something that I've seen a couple of other people
comment on as well. I know that there are also a lot of other witchy books
that have been coming out recently because witchy books seem to be a bit
fashionable lately but I haven't really read that many of the new releases so
that's why I mostly recommended a bunch of older books. Do let me know
if you have read any of those books or if you read any of them after
watching this video because I would love to know and I would also love to talk to
you about them down in the comments! Thank you so much for watching and I
will see you next time :) *bye*